Champaign man gets probation for burglary, theft

URBANA — A Champaign man who admitted committing burglary and theft in separate crimes has been sentenced to 30 months of probation.

Donja Hart, 19, whose last known address was in the 200 block of Edgebrook Drive, was also ordered to get treatment for substance abuse.

He pleaded guilty Friday before Champaign County Judge Heidi Ladd to the Sept. 16 burglary of a car in a parking garage in the 600 block of East Stoughton Street, Champaign, and to theft for possessing a laptop computer that had been stolen Oct. 12 from a truck in the 900 block of East Oregon Street in Urbana.

Hart was stopped Oct. 12 by Urbana police on Washington Street for riding a bicycle without a light. After obtaining Hart's permission to search him, the officer found a small amount of cannabis in Hart's pants pocket and a backpack containing an iPod, cellphone and Apple laptop computer.

He was given a notice to appear in court on the cannabis possession, but when police learned later that day that the laptop computer had been stolen, Hart was arrested for burglary.

In exchange for his pleas in the two cases, another shoplifting-related burglary charge was dismissed.